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Panicky Plod apologises to Innocent Terror Techie

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A Reg contributor who was unlawfully arrested and had his home PCs inspected by the Met has received an apology from the police after four years.

David Mery was wearing a coat "too warm for the season" and was carrying a laptop - according to the police who arrested him at Southwark Tube station, the day after the second wave of London bombings in 2005.

The Police made a search under the Prevention of Terrorism Act but having found nothing suspicious and Mery co-operative, were set to release him. Then decided to make an arrest on grounds that he was a public nuisance.

"I was arrested for a made up offence most likely in order to justify their having closed the tube station," Mery says.

The Police's own self-policing bureaucracy failed - with the Met's own "Directorate of Professional Standards" arguing that there were reasonable grounds for arrest. It decided to make an exception.

I would like to apologise on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service for the circumstances that arose on 28 July 2005 including your unlawful arrest, detention and search of your home. I appreciate this has had a deep and traumatic impact on your lives and I hope that the settlement in this case can bring some closure to this.

I shall ensure that the officers concerned are made aware of the impact of the events of that day and also the details of the settlement in this case.

Mery also asked that the police destroy his DNA samples and delete his PNC record and they have finally agreed - although police insist they must keep innocent people's data. He wrote a guide on how to delete your DNA evidence for the Reg.